breakthrough

American  

[breyk-throo] / ˈbreɪkˌθru /

noun

• breakthroughs
  plural

1. a military movement or advance all the way through and beyond an enemy's frontline defense.

2. an act or instance of removing or surpassing an obstruction or restriction; the overcoming of a stalemate.

   The president reported a breakthrough in the treaty negotiations.

3. any significant or sudden advance, development, achievement, or increase, as in scientific knowledge or diplomacy, that removes a barrier to progress.

   The jet engine was a major breakthrough in air transport.

4. Medicine/Medical. an infection, disease, disorder, or condition that occurs in an individual despite their having received a vaccine, medication, or treatment.

   Covid breakthroughs are usually less severe than infections in unvaccinated people, indicating that the vaccine is still doing its job of combating the virus.

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adjective

1. constituting a breakthrough: Critics called it a breakthrough film.

   Their products are engineered with breakthrough technology.

   Critics called it a breakthrough film.

2. Medicine/Medical. relating to or being an infection, disease, disorder, or condition that occurs as a breakthrough: She experienced disabling breakthrough pain despite the high dose of painkillers she was taking.

   In the original vaccine trial, 89% of breakthrough infections were with a particular family of virus strains.

   She experienced disabling breakthrough pain despite the high dose of painkillers she was taking.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• breakthroughs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of breakthrough

First recorded in 1915–20; noun use of verb phrase break through

Explanation

An amazing discovery or a huge amount of progress can be called a breakthrough. The discovery of penicillin in 1928 was a breakthrough for modern medicine. A personal breakthrough might be overcoming your fear of spiders once and for all. A bigger breakthrough, one that affects many people, is the invention of indoor plumbing. There's a sense of suddenness and drama associated with most breakthroughs. The word started out with a military meaning of literally "breaking through a barrier" in 1918. By the 1930s, it came to have the second meaning of "abrupt solution."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

breakthrough breakthroughs

Analysts at Deutsche Bank, led by Tim Rokossa, wrote in a Friday note that the board’s passing of the plan represented “a fundamental breakthrough and a much-better-than-feared outcome.”

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026

But that breakthrough represented the first effort in a long career spent exposing exploitative working conditions for women other journalists diminished or outright dismissed.

From Salon ● Sep. 3, 2026

“Rookie” actor Dewan, best known for her breakthrough role in “Step Up” alongside Channing Tatum, will dust off her dancing shoes to compete with pro Val Chmerkovskiy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

It successfully targeted a common cancer mutation, resulting in a drug that nearly doubled how long people with pancreatic cancer survived—a remarkable breakthrough for a notoriously deadly disease.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

He grabbed a pencil and scrawled excitedly at the paper as if he’d just made a mathematical breakthrough and then looked back up at me.

From "Looking for Alaska" by John Green

Today, breakthroughs across multiple disciplines are occurring in parallel.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026

China dominates the global supply of humanoid robots, and analysts expect momentum to keep growing as Beijing throws its weight behind the sector and technological breakthroughs continue.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

Unlike many players who reach elite clubs through prestigious academies or early top-flight breakthroughs, Chavarria had to take the longer route.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

For scientists like Cohen, these molecules are an exciting area of research that could reap significant health breakthroughs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

Certainly no one expected his survey to yield any dramatic breakthroughs.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

Related Words

• boost
• development
• discovery
• finding
• gain
• hike
• improvement
• leap
• progress